Kered

Ty, pals.

Was going to post this in Q&A then I remembered the spoiler policy lol. I've browsed arcanum, this forum and some of the coppermind. Has a consensus been reached on who Hoid is telling the story to in Tress? Haven't been on the forums in a few months and the last thing I remember seeing was a answer from Brandon saying there were clues that could potentially lead to us figuring it out. Thanks in advanced and sorry if this as been discussed ad naseum!

Loved the style of this book. It's still wild to me that we're now in the era of cosmere becoming center stage. I was always a bit nervous about how Brandon would execute it without it coming off as a more drawn out Avengers style thing. But with RotW, LoM and now Tress, I'm pretty confident that Brandon is going to pull of this connection storm very well. Gunna be a cosmere wide Brandalanche. Also Thank you for finally helping me define my issue with those characters and my opinion on that style. 100% agree with all of that. Been trying to put my finger on it for ages.

Quote from the Dragonsteel event for the Lost Metal Release My hype level to hear that on top of the ending was giving me hype flashbacks to the secret project announcements.

I know there’s a bunch of nuance to this conversation. Good arguments on both sides and what not. But when I read this for the first time: All nuance went out the window for me and I audibly said “you son of a tw*t” in the middle of a Starbucks and caused a 60 year old women to look at me, scandalized. The vibe I get from Moash in this book is Brandon intentionally attempting to make a irredeemable character. Someone that is “evil” with no nuance, the opposite of a character like Robonial or Taravangian. I get that the Pursuer fills in the that spot, but Moash packs more of a visceral emotional punch because of how long we’ve known him and for his knowledge of Kaladin’s weaknesses. Either for the purpose of having that spiraling arc of him getting worse and worse or to one day attempt redemption. But as it stands right now, hating him is satisfying. Imo seriously disliking/hating character is just as important as liking/loving characters like Shallan or Kaladin.

I feel like I have all the pieces but I'm not smart enough to put them together. This is either going to be a situation where the answer is so obvious that it's made me hesitate. Or I'm just missing something completely. Scrubbed through Arcanum and Coppermind and came up with nothing. Renarin and Sja-Anat have me confizzled. My simple question is, did the two of them conspire to assist in the Ascension of tOdium or were they just trying to undercut rOdium? The pieces I realized: Sja-Anat Interlude: Sja-Anat purposely manipulates the situation to get sent to watch Taravangian instead of the tower. She also calls Taravangian a weapon. Tarava Interlude: Renarin gives him a bowl of spheres that hold enlightened spren with a note saying sorry. Is the sorry because his and Sja's goal was for Taravangian to kill Rayse and unleash the power? So if the obvious is true and they were working towards this, was their goal to kill Rayse, not anticipating the tOdium ascension, or was it to assist in the ascension? If's the ascension, does that mean Sja-Anat is working with Cultivation?

A while back I had a tinfoil that the Mink would be the third Bondsmith strictly because a Nightwatcher/Mink pairing would be hilarious. I'm on kind of the boring side that I think it's important for there to be really strong characters that aren't Radiant. But if I had to pick one, it would be Lirian becoming a Edgedancer. Treating anyone, no matter what side they're on falls in line with the spirit of the Edgedancer oaths. And Lirian joining one of the healing orders would be amazing. When I see it in my head I see a scene where Hesina or someone close to him is dying and he can't save them through conventional means, he breaks down but then he swears the oath and saves them. But my dream wish that is 99.9% unlikely to happen is Leshwi bonding the her Honorspren friend that she helps revive from deadeye either with Adolins method or because of whatever happens with Ba-Ado. Would just be such an awesome scene. A huge arc of this series is Brandon emphasizing that this isn't a black and white conflict anymore. It's not just good guys versus bad guys. The listeners, Leshwi and her people, Sja-anat, Kaladin befriending those singers, etc. It's showing that peace between the peoples would be the best solution. With all the baggage on both sides, I think a Fused bonding a literal Honorspren would be a perfect way to show that reconciliation is possible.

Forewarning, 100% the reason I'm posting these is for this post to be forum equivalent of a tweet predicting a random event years before it happens. I'm 90% sure that most of these theories won't happen, but this is a risk vs reward situation. Risking looking stupid in order to be awarded random bragging rights years from now. Theory One. Sixteen is one of the original 16 vessels but let go of the power at some point after the shattering. We basically have zero clues on who 16 is which makes it perfect to throw my illogical hopes on him. Brandon likes playing with fans expectations in terms of magic/worldbuilding. We've yet to see an original vessel that isn't being yeeted into the beyond or one that isn't holding the power. I think it would be an amazing story for a vessel to have figured out how to give up the power(straight up splintering it would be cooler) and also survive. After doing that, the vessel being literally insane would make up a lot of sense. Theory Two If he doesn't die, Adolin will revive Maya enough to gain surgebinding but different. Kinda like how Renarin is something new. Reviving a deadeye by forging a bond could make weird things happen. On top of that, Adolin will also bond Notum. I know Brandon has said at some point in the past, paraphrased, that having two spren bonds is possible but something out of the norm has to happen. Having a regular nahel bond on top of having a bond with a revived deadeye strikes me as being....out of the norm. I think, though, that this will only be feasible if Maya gets revived enough before Ba-Ado gets released. I've seen variations of this theory before and honestly, the more i think about it, the more it makes sense. Maybe not the exact mechanics but the overall idea. Having a double bonded Radiant sounds exactly like something Brandon would like to play with. Creating interplay with surges that normally wouldn't cross with each other. The ability to manipulate gravitation and friction could lead to some crazy things. *takes off tinfoiled cover helmet now that i've excised my mental demons*

As the title says, this is for pure catharsis. As Ladylameness and Grey said in the SA5 Prologue episode, it felt soooooo good to see just how dumb Gavilar was. And so in honor of Navani, I thought I'd try to point out and meme on every mistake/misconception Gavilar made in the prologue. And I will admit now that I will be blatantly not giving Gavilar the benefit of the doubt even considering the purposeful misdirects the Stormfather has given him. What goes around, comes around, Gavilar ole boy. In your case, it was a flying, mildly psychotic ninja assassin. The only thing I'm not going to point out are the awful, many different guesses of the Oath. I think the Stormfather handled that better than I could have. Don't worry, buddy. That blade's about to come back at you like a boomerang. It was when I read this line that I knew Brandon was about to do Gavilar. I thought there was going to be some ambiguity on if Gavilar was a truly bad person or if he was just wearing thin from pressure and stress. Spoiler alert, I was wrong. This isn't really a dig but it's just hilarious that he literally said this. Said it on a night when at least 4 were in the palace that night and he had a meeting with 2. This is doubly hilarious because it's basically Brandon winking at us. After the Taln lucid scene with Ash in OB, reading this made me have to take a deep breath. It's technically logical thinking given the context Gavilar currently has but it still made irrationally livid at a fictional character. Brandon did a reeeally good job hammering home Gavilars ignorance in this prologue. I think this is one of the better examples of that given the fandoms general opinion of Taln. I think I speak for everyone now, given this prologue, thank god Dalinar was drunk. I would pay all the money in the world for the tinfoil theory of Gavilar still being around somehow to literally see one thing. The moment Gavilar finds out what Dalinar has done in the past 3 books. You have no idea, brother. Literally. Talking a small detour to poke at Amaram. #yelignar Oof, Gavilar. Oof. I think I've discovered Gavilars root issue that all others stem from. Dude needs to learn to read a room. A fitting epitaph, if there ever was one.

This is either a very small wink to hardcore fans or just a coincidence. Kinda leaning towards coincidence due to the pub date of WoK and the date of the WoB's. If it is a coincidence, I think it's a pretty cool one considering the odds of it happening lol. Anyway, came across this during a re-listen of WoK: Chapter 17, emphasis obviously mine. And the WoB's:

Was browsing Arcanum and came across this wob: Snoxcatko Who's telling "Unite Them" to Dalinar because it's obviously not Stormfather nor Honor because he's hearing it even outside of the visions, right? Brandon Sanderson He is hearing that, that is a RAFO. You can have a RAFO card. Prague Signing (Oct. 26, 2019) This then lead down a rabbit hole of looking around the forums for theories. I could have sworn that a bit after the OB release a consensus was made in the fandom that this is Dalinar Connecting(capital "C") to a combination of the remnants of Honor's intent/cognitive shadow. That one of the biggest pieces of Honor remaining was the intent of bonds(unite them being a desire or Intent to form a bond) because Odium couldn't completely destroy this piece because it more resided in the spirit of humankind than a tangible power. I remember that there was also discussion of Intent being separate from the physical power of the Shard if it had not only Invested in planet but also a sapient race. That way pieces of the Shards Intent can exist separately from the power itself meaning that Intent can survive past a splintering of a Shard. But I can't find the topic anywhere. Is this still the consensus or is there a new frontrunner?

I was in the middle of reading the Dunk and Egg novellas by GRRM and in the first one there is a prince that has prophetic dreams and shares them with Dunk. As soon as I read that, the first thing that popped into my head was “Well, this dude needs to stay away from the ardents” and I 100% expected Dunk to respond with “Careful, seeing the future is of the enemy”. I think I need to take a bit of a cosmere break.

Thanks! When I searched arcanum, I searched for Roboniel and gift. Should have thought to do silver chain lol.

Good point on the Thaidakar thing. Though, it also might be a possibility that Thaidakar already tried to use it, then it didn’t work, then they give it as a gift.

I did a search on here and I couldn't find a topic about it, so apologies if this has already been discussed in depth. I'm re-listening to RoW and in the chapter where Mraize gives Roboniel Lift, he first gives her a pouch. Its in one of the following epigraphs where Roboniel mentions obtaining the chain Kaladin saw while in Shadesmar in OB. The one to be used as a "anchor for cognitive anomalies". I'm not crazy, right? This is the gift Mraize gave to Roboniel? The only small thing that makes me doubt it is that Roboniel is stunned rhythmless. I don't know why the chain would do that, unless the she recognized the chain on site which would mean that the device had previous notoriety.

I just read through this whole topic and I haven't seen this posted yet. If I missed it, i'll edit out this and apologies in advance! Was re-listening to RoW for the first time after reading about this theory and the SA5 Prolouge and I heard this: Chapter 4, RoW, when Shallan is infiltrating the Sons of Honor.

It’s insane that this leads to the possibility of Dalinar being able to have a close to invincible army lol.

I saw this topic a few years ago and thought it'd be fun to make another go of it now that we have OB and RoW. Had the idea to do this after I was listening to OB again and in the duel with Fen's son, it's mentioned that Fen's son was rubbing his chest like he was the one that was stabbed. Obviously this is just line for realism sake but I had a random thought that it'd be funny if, just like Kaladin in WoK unconsciously pulling arrows to him, Dalinar was going around randomly Connecting to people. Then that thought led me down the "How OP can a Bondsmith be" rabbit hole again. So, I thought I'd see your opinions, trolly or otherwise, and post a few of my own. Also, my knowledge of Realmatic Theory is average at best and Connection as it relates to spirit mumbo jumbo is kind of laughable so I'm sorry in advance if I suggest the Cosmere equivalent of thinking the earth is flat. Injury/Trauma mirror. Connecting someone to a Bondsmith's own pain and or trauma. Mental or physical. I could see this leading to some pretty awesome applications in combat scenes. Would be super op against anyone that can't heal via void or stormlight. Though, if a mental application can be used that could be arguably scarier. Perma Connecting someone to something and or someone. From using a Connection like Ishar forged between the windrunners and the stone to Connecting someone permanently to the Cognitive Realm. Or in Ishars case, permanently Connecting cognitive beings to the physical realm. This ones a kind of only limited by the imagination. Manipulating the Connections the things and emotions that cause the existence of spren. Changing fundamental principles of somethings existence and the ripple effect that would follow. Trading out Connections between things. IE loyalties to certain peoples of morals, histories of specific people or objects, etc. This is an obvious one because of what Ishar attempted with the Stormfather but its also another one which possibilities are only limited by imagination. Severing Connections. One implication of this is the severing of Nahel Bonds. This one I feel has the best chance to make it into the books because severing a bond is only a few steps past what Ishar attempted. The more and more I think about the implications of an unbound Bondsmiths, the more I'm becoming sure it will be the one of, if not the most, OP thing in the cosmere outside of Shards and Dawnshards.

This might be the best reason I've seen for a person to create a forum account. Also, there's a feature you can enable on Audible to bookmark your spot whenever the audio is paused or you close the app. So, if it happens again you can just check your "bookmarks" tab. Had to do that for my first time through OB because my app kept crashing.

You mean…..this TenSoon? This is half credit cus we mostly call him Ten but his papers say TenSoon lol.

So I did a thing. Meet Vin

Hello all, this isn't so much a theory than its just a question to see what people think. I was re-listening to the RoW reactions part 1 shardcast when an idea popped in my head when Feather was talking about when Dalinar asked the ardent what he'll do if they ever reclaim the Tranquiline Halls. The ardent responds to Dailnar by saying they're sure the Almighty will find new things for Dalinar to conquer. In the shardcast after Feather mentions that it's discussed that if Dalinar becomes a Fused for Odium, then this statement by the Ardent may be seen as foreshadowing. The thought that popped in my head was to take that concept further. What if it just wasn't subtle foreshadowing, what if it's kinda lowkey proof that Odium influenced the faith and tenants of Vorinisim? The whole concept of humanity fighting for the Tranquiline Halls is kinda paralleled with Odium's plan/desire to use Roshar as a training ground to prepare his troops for war throughout the cosmere. Obviously this isn't hugely impactful, even before TarOdium happened. But it would be cool if turned out to just be a glimpse of just how complex Odiums plans have been and taking a play out of Ruin's playbook. Using religion to influence people. It would be a smart tidbit for Odium to base a core principle of humanities prominent religion on his plan for what he wants humanity to become. It's a bit out there but I couldn't get it out of my head so I decided to post just to see other peoples thoughts.

I don’t know about you guys, but this story made me feel profound sadness every time Sig referenced his past and during his conversation with Wit. Even his convos with Aux. More so I than any other cosmere story/scene I’ve read. And I have no idea why lol.

Waaaaaaaaaaaait. Not only is there a new shard but she apparently splintered herself?! This catch up is going to take longer than anticipated.

Yeah, I was able to back it like 15 minutes into the countdown stream lol.